Ever Built a ‘Beautiful’ Feature… That No One Used?
Aug 18, 2025
If you’ve been in product design or early-stage startups for a while, chances are you’ve launched a feature you were proud of, only to watch users ignore it completely.
It’s frustrating. And it’s more common than you think.
The good news? It’s avoidable.
Here’s the process I follow before even opening Figma to make sure I’m designing the right thing, not just the prettiest thing.
Why Design Shouldn’t Start in Figma
Designing beautiful UIs is only one part of product design and it definitely shouldn’t be the first.
Great design starts with great thinking. When you rush straight into execution, you risk:
Solving the wrong problem
Ignoring user goals
Breaking other parts of the product
Wasting weeks of effort on features no one uses
That’s why I’ve developed a simple checklist of things I go through before I open Figma. It’s saved me (and my clients) countless hours and mistakes.
✅ The Things I Do Before Opening Figma
1. Describe the Problem
I start by writing a short paragraph outlining:
The current state of the product
What the problem is
Why it needs to be solved now
This helps me align with the team and ground the design in real context.
2. Define User Goals
What is the user trying to achieve with this feature?
Are they:
Trying to view something, or edit it?
Performing a task they do often, or rarely?
These distinctions shape the entire design approach.
3. Define Success Metrics
This step is often skipped, but it’s crucial.
You need a way to measure if your design worked.
Some examples of relevant metrics:
“% of users who activated a feature”
“% of users who visited a specific page”
“% of users who completed a flow”
Without metrics, you’re designing blind.
4. Identify Affected Areas
What other parts of the product could this design impact?
Could it break something? Add friction? Create inconsistency?
Listing these out helps you avoid unintended consequences.
5. Plan for Future Additions
I jot down any improvements that might be added later but aren’t needed right now.
This helps me build a flexible design that won’t block future iterations.
6. Go-to-Market Plan
Designing a feature is just the start. If no one knows about it, it might as well not exist.
Before designing, I think about:
How will users find out this feature exists?
Should it be announced, highlighted, or introduced with a tooltip or modal?
7. Consider Edge Cases
I map out edge scenarios and decide:
Which ones should we handle now?
Which can be postponed?
This is especially helpful for startups that need to move fast without skipping important details.
Where I Keep This Info
I usually document all of this inside the Figma file where the new design will live. That way:
Everything’s in one place
Developers have full context
Handoffs become faster and smoother
“But We Don’t Have Time for All That!”
I get it. Startups move fast.
But I’m not saying you should do all of this, every single time. Even spending just a couple of hours to lay a solid foundation can save you weeks of redesigns, bugs, and backtracking.
Believe me, you don’t want to build something and later discover that:
A small change requires a full rebuild
Users don’t even use the thing you spent weeks creating
Why I Created This Process
This process wasn’t born in theory. It came from failure.
We once rushed a feature for a client because users had requested it. We skipped some steps to meet a deadline.
Big mistake.
The feature worked technically, but it didn’t function as users expected. Fixing it after launch took way more effort than doing it right the first time would have.
All of that could have been avoided if we had followed this exact checklist.
You can read more about that experience here:
🔗 The story behind the failed feature
Design Isn’t Just About Looks. It’s About Thinking.
A good design process can make or break a digital product.
If you’re building features without a clear problem, user goal, or success metric, you’re not designing, you’re gambling.
If you’re interested in improving your own design process or want help applying this framework to your startup, feel free to reach out.